Liberty of the Seas Review- July 2018

[cruisemom67]

WE just got off on Sunday. I relied on these boards to help me plan our trip, so in case you are interested, this is my review of Liberty of the Seas. We are a family of 5, and it is our 13th time to cruise as a family. My husband and I have cruised 18 times in all. We have cruised NCL several times, Royal several times, and the rest on Carnival.

 

July 8-15 2018 out of Galveston

We live about 35 minutes from the port of Galveston. We arrived at the terminal about 10:30. Thesecurity line was already very long. Itwent fast, though we had to wait in the regular line as we are “Gold” and not ahigher C&A. After security, we wereable to check in quickly for the priority line. We were on board about 11:15. We went directly to Windjammer. It was incredibly crowded. So crowded already that we had to sit in theChops restaurant, though still eating from the buffet. The buffet was okay. I wasn’t very impressed, it was typicalbuffet food. I was rather upset that my daughter, who has a severe nut allergy,was told she could eat the pesto chicken. She had gone directly to the chef who deals with allergies, and he toldher certain foods she would be able to eat. Thankfully, she was aware that pesto sometimes is made with cashews andshe questioned him about it. That iswhen he remembered the pesto did have nuts.

After eating in the buffet, we went to switch keys atcustomer service desk. We couldn’t switchuntil we were in international waters, but they did give us an extra set of keysso that my 3 daughters would be together (youngest is 18) and my husband and I wouldbe together. That actually worked betterthan switching, as we could come and go into each other’s rooms.

We explored until our rooms were ready. Most of our suitcases came pretty quickly, sowe unpacked.

We brought two 12-packs of water, and two 12-packs of soda forthe 5 of us. We put them in 2 dufflebags with our room number on it and had no problem having it delivered.

We had anytime dining, and the first night we had signed upfor 5:45 dining as we wanted to see the Welcome show. It was only offered onetime that night. Our waiter got us outfairly quickly after learning that we wanted to see the show. The rest of the week we had signed up for7:00 dining time. Even though we hadMTD, we had the same waiter every night. That was good, as he was wonderful! Since one daughter has multiple allergies, and another daughter is glutenand dairy free (stomach issues), he was very good at helping us with theirissues.

The first night, my youngest 2 daughters were in the ‘FriendlyFeud’ show. They enjoy being a part ofthe games, so this was great they got to be a part. The rest of the week they spent much of theirtime in the karaoke lounge and in the dance club late at night. They are in the 18-20 range, so there wasless for them to do as this is an age group that typically gets left out. They can’t be in the kid’s club, and they aretoo young to drink. They still made thebest of it by making friends at the club and while singing/listening to karaoke.

The first sea day was very relaxing. My 22-year-old did the flo-rider (my other 2slept in) before it got busy. We atebreakfast (as we did every day) in the dining room. I like not dealing with thebuffet that early, plus the food is much better and made to order in the diningroom. In the morning, we had our Cruise Critic Meet and Greet. Very surprisingly, our cruise director, Jeffreycame. Of all the CD’s I have had in 18cruises, he is probably my favorite. Although I didn’t see him as much as I have seen others, his sense ofhumor is just wonderful! He should be acomedian in his spare time! For lunch we tried pizza. Normally, the Royal pizza is not very good,but this time it was much better. Still,not great, but definitely edible. In theafternoon on the first sea day, we saw Black Panther in 3D. We also sat in the hot tubs and relaxed.

Most nights we would meet to have a drink in our room andtake a glass of wine to dinner. Webrought wine on board and had enough for me to have a glass every night atdinner. We would go to the bars before dinnerand ask for wine glasses, then have a glass in our room, or get one ready totake for dinner.

The room was nice, even though we had interior, there was alot of space. We had plenty of drawerand hanging space, though I do wish I would have asked for extra hangers. Themini-fridge was good but didn’t keep things very cold. We had our steward bring ice twice a day andwould put the ice in the refrigerator to keep it colder (we brought zip lockbaggies). The room was dated, but still inpretty good shape. One thing I reallyliked about our rooms was that there was a curtain that would separate the bedsfrom the rest of the room. We used it atnight so that the light from under the door wouldn’t bother our sleep. My daughters also used it at night, as onewould go to sleep early, and the other two would be out very late. When they came in, they could have minimumlights on so that they didn’t wake the one sleeping. The same with in the morning, the youngergirls could sleep in and not be bothered by the light.

I thought the ship was in good shape. Workers were constantly cleaning and paintingto make the ship look new. I am amazedthat it is already 11 years old!

Our first stop was Cozumel. I booked directly with Playa Miato have the Segway tour, and beach break. The cost was $75 each, which was $25 cheaper than the ship tour. The people from our ship were on the same vanand same tour with us, even though they booked from the ship and we bookeddirect. The Segways were really fun, andwe toured the ancient village and church. The Segway part was about an hour. After that we went to Playa Mia. One drink was included with our package. We stayed there for several hours beforereturning to the ship. All the transportationwas included.

In Grand Cayman, we waited for the tenders to clear of peoplewaiting. We had been there before and havereally seen/done everything. My oldest daughterwanted to snorkel, so we walked to Paradise Café and snorkeled at the marinepark. We brought our own equipment, sothis didn’t cost anything, and the snorkeling was very good. There were quite a few tarpin as you getin. They were about 3 feet long. Thankfully, we knew they were harmless. There was also a water trampoline there thatyou could swim out to and play on. That wasall free.

In Jamaica, I booked through Shore Excursioneer and we climbedthe Dunn’s River Falls and then tubed down the White River. This was everyone’s favorite day. I don’t normally like Jamaica, but because wewere mostly in a controlled environment, it was much more enjoyable. However, on the way to our tour (in theenclosed terminal security area inside the fence), there was a man that offeredus marijuana. He was hiding in the bushesand calling out to people as they passed. Welcome to Jamaica! WOW!

The last 2 sea days were very relaxing. We laid out and read, enjoyed time in the hottub, watched “Ready Player One” in the theater, did the water slides, and playedmini-golf. There was plenty to do every day. We also gambled a little and watched othersgamble.

We went to the shows every night. The Welcome Show was good. It gave us a tasteof what we would see the rest of the week. The comedian (Peter Lee) was one of the funniest I had seen on acruise. We saw his regular show and thenwent back for the 18+ show another night. Most “adult” comedians throw around curse words and think it isfunny. Peter Lee didn’t do that. He talked about some “adult” issues and usednormal language. The ice show was spectacular,as was the aerialist show. The Love andMarriage show is always good for a laugh. However, I was disappointed in Saturday Night Fever. The singing and dancing were good, but therewas no plot. There were quite a few miniplots that just didn’t get a conclusion. I expected more after all the hype.

The main dining room food was usually very good. The appetizers were wonderful! Several nights I didn’t see anything on the entréemenu I wanted, so I just asked for one of the appetizers to be my maincourse. I love to eat seafood, and itwas usually good. However, the lobster was a bit overcooked, and so was somefish I ate one day. I also didn’t carefor the seafood linguini. It ismass-produced food, so I don’t expect a lot, but most appetizers I had werewonderful. The desserts were also verygood most of the time. However, the shiponly has 1 ice cream machine (for 4600 passengers!) and it was frequentlyclosed. When it was open, many times youcouldn’t get chocolate ice cream because it was soupy. Too many people using the machine and it didn’thave time to freeze. I wonder if the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Shopon board has more sales when this happens? Liberty has to know that this just isn’t enough to have one machine forthousands of people. Other lines have 24-hourice cream, and multiple machines for less people.

I was also disappointed that the Windjammer wasn’t openmore. I like to just get water or vitamin water, and frequently it was closed. Other lines have drink stations near thepools. I feel they are trying to get you to buy the drink package to make itmore convenient to get drinks.

Liberty has many dining options that are extra cost. We did not go to any of them. I do wonder if the issues I had in the MainDining Room might sway some people to pay the upcharge.

All in all, we had a very good time. Any day on a cruise is better than one thatisn’t. After cruising 18 times in 26years, we have seen massive changes across the three budget cruise lines. They have lowered prices and added morethings for a fee. Most of the time I don’tmind, as I know these changes have kept the price lower and enabled us tocruise more. We have a family of 5, so cruisingisn’t “cheap” by any means, but it is definitely affordable. I think it makes a wonderful family vacation,as everyone can find things that they like to do, and we can also have a lot offamily time. My oldest daughter hasalready booked her next cruise (on Carnival). I am sure we will also book another soon. I always enjoy having one tolook forward to!

[Texasopa]

You mentioned The Love and Marriage show, do they not have The Quest show any more?

[cruisemom67]

You mentioned The Love and Marriage show, do they not have The Quest show any more?

 

Yes, they have both. The Love and Marriage show was on the main stage. The Quest was later and in a different venue. I didn't go to the Quest.

[WEJEEP4FUN]

Thanks for your review, were sailing on the Liberty in Oct and cant wait!

[SHIP TRAVELER]

Thank you for taking time to write your review. As fellow Texans who also drive to the port in Galveston, we appreciated all your comments. We are heading out on the Liberty in August.

[dude_hdt]

Thanks for the review. My family is sailing on Liberty 7/29 then again on 12/30. We're also about 30 minutes from the port so great to hear about crowd situation with your arrival time. We usually arrive at 10:30 but may look to arrive at 10:15 or earlier for less lines. Better to sit in their waiting room with anticipation than to sit at home or stand in line.